Jointer Guard

First Photo: The completed guard installed.Second Photo: The spring mechanism.

The dowel has a small notch to hold the spring in this position. The plywood (I think) is 3/4” maple scrap. The dowel is 1/4” oak.

I bought this jointer at a garage sale for $100. He built the shop-built stand and added the motor. Unfortunately other than some numbers in a few spots I cannot determine it’s maker. It works surprisingly well. However it does not have its guard. After doing a little research online I drew inspiration from two sources: fellow LumberJock Brandon W and his Porkchop project, and an antique design that seemed to fit my machine on VintageMachinery.org. Please take the time to view these two designs—together they explain the design of my guard.

Unlike Brandon I did not have a bearing on hand. Mine is just a bolt and nut through a hole drilled in the plywood. I wasn’t sure if this would work out. It works perfectly, for now. I’m sure it won’t hold up as long as his. If in the future I have problems with my design, I’ll post about it here.

Jbschutz- I am aware that I am losing space on the bed. Sadly this was the original design of this jointer, as is evidenced by the location of the hole in the bed and location of the spring. This also was the design of the OldTimeMachines jointer I referenced in the post. On the old jointers this is how they did things, I guess. Regardless it’s not a big problem. I can quickly remove the guard with just one screw when I need to joint a board that won’t fit. If it does become a common problem, I can envision a more complicated attachment bracket that would clamp to the underside support and not interfere with the top of the bed. If it does become a problem, darn! I’ll need to spend some more time in the shop.